1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of photofinishing, and in particular to a photographic image set.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A step in a final phase of a photographic process is a customer receiving a group of prints and negatives corresponding to the prints. The prints and negatives are generally packaged in an envelope. Packaging the prints and negatives separately in the envelope can lead to a problem of the negatives becoming separated from the prints because the envelopes are carelessly thrown into a shoe box or the prints are placed in a photo album or framed or given away. Thus, when the customer wishes to order reprints he or she must spend time locating the negatives which correspond to the prints he or she wants to order. Moreover, because he or she doesn't have the benefit of the original print nearby, he or she must try to determine which negative corresponds to the print of which he or she wants a copy. This can be difficult to the amateur photographer who is not trained to view photographic negatives, because the subject image on the negative is reversed as is the contrast.
When the prints and negatives are packaged together in envelopes and returned to the customer the negatives are susceptible to scratching and contamination from dust, dirt and/or fingerprints because the paper envelope does not provide a damage-free environment for the negatives. These various forms of damage can create havoc with the emulsion of the negative thus reducing the quality of reprints from the damaged negatives.
Currently, the customer can purchase plastic transparent sleeves to hold the cut negatives. The unwary customer could cause the previously described damage to the negatives as he or she is inserting the negative strip into the sleeve. Furthermore, this procedure can be time consuming to the customer.
A type of photographic storage system is described in Japanese Utility Model Application (Kokai) JP 60-48467, published Apr. 5, 1985. This application discloses a photosensitive sheet for a photo album which has a plurality of pictures printed on one side of the photosensitive sheet and has a single pocket attached to a reverse side of the photosensitive sheet, for containing all the film negatives. The film negatives appear to be loosely held in the pocket. However, they can easily fall out of the pocket and thus be lost. Also, since the negatives are in contact with the photosensitive sheet, the negatives are subject to scratches from debris that may collect on the surface of the photosensitive sheet. In addition, the archival quality of the negatives may be harmfully affected due to residual paper process chemicals on the photosensitive sheet. Since the operator at the photofinisher will be handling the negatives when manually placing them in the pocket the negatives are subjected to damage if the operator is careless.
The final phase of the photographic process can include the step of reordering prints. Generally, the customer will bring a strip of negatives having the image he or she wants reprinted to the photofinisher. Sometimes it is difficult for the untrained eye to determine which image is really the one desired. Index prints can help in this situation. The index print generally has a plurality of images printed thereon. There is still the problem of matching the right negative with the print because the negatives may not be stored with the index print.
A method of making index prints is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,733 granted Jan. 19. 1988. The index print is made from a plurality of negative strips arranged in lines in an unfolded transparent negative holder. The index print and the transparent negative holder containing the negative strips are then placed in a box to be given to a customer. This has the disadvantage that the negatives can get separated from the index print, thus be lost.